TAMPA Womens Evander Kane Jersey , Fla. — A matchup of early-season conference powers takes place Saturday when the Eastern Conference leading Tampa Bay Lightning host the Western Conference leading Colorado Avalanche at Amalie Arena.The Lightning enter the game winners of five straight and sit four points ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs atop the conference standings. The Avalanche have won seven of their past eight on the road and sit tied with Nashville on top of the West standings.It will be a matchup of Tampa Bay’s impressive depth up and down the lineup against Colorado’s trio of Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog, which will be back together after being broken up at the end of Thursday’s victory at Florida.Article continues below ...The Avalanche top line has combined for 48 goals and 124 points through 29 games. Rantanen leads the league with 47 points and 35 assists while MacKinnon is second with 44 points.But for the third period against Florida, with the game tied 2-2, Colorado head coach Jared Bednar split up the top line, moving J.T. Compher to that top line and moving Rantanen to the second line. The Avalanche went on to win the game 5-2, with Compher scoring the tie-breaking goal.“Whenever coach puts you out with guys of that caliber it’s exciting,” Compher told NHL.com. “It was a great opportunity for me, and seeing how hard those guys work, they dog pucks all the time. I just tried to get out there to get on the forecheck trying to create turnovers Authentic Joe Pavelski Jersey , and we had a real good shift, pinned them in their zone and were able to get a goal.”That type of work ethic, Bednar felt, was not up to par, which prompted the switch to start the third period.“I felt like our top guys were struggling to kind of gain some traction,” Bednar told NHL.com. “They did have their chances, they scored on Mikko’s tip (in the first period) and they were doing some good things, but the regular traction that I expect out of that line wasn’t there. I thought maybe I flip them [and] sometimes you can get a spark, and if I didn’t like it I could just move it back real quick.”Bednar told BSNDenver.com on Friday that the trio would be back together to begin Saturday’s game against the Lightning, while goaltender Semyon Varlamov starts in goal.Tampa Bay http://www.sanjosesharksteamshop.com/authentic-joe-thornton-jersey , meanwhile, has a deep group of forwards that features five players who have already reached double digits in goal, led by Brayden Point who is tied for the league lead with 21 goals. Linemate Nikita Kucherov is third in league scoring with 43 points.The Lightning also have seven players with at least 20 points and 10 players with at least five goals scored through 30 games.“It’s definitely a strength on our team,” said Lightning goaltender Louis Domingue, who is 9-2 in 11 starts since the loss of No. 1 goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. “We saw it when some of our best players got injured, someone else jumped in the lineup and did a good job. It’s even guys that aren’t playing right now, when they come in, they are ready to go, and they do a good job.” PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia Flyers tried to make their annual Halloween game a festive occasion — popular mascot Gritty judged the costume contests during intermissions — but the only boos came from disgruntled fans each time Philly skated off the ice.The Islanders‘ romp started early, and they seemed right at home against the listless Flyers.Brock Nelson scored two goals Womens Joonas Donskoi Jersey , Anders Lee had a goal and two assists and Robin Lehner stopped 22 shots to lead New York past Philadelphia 6-1 on Saturday.Leo Komarov and Anthony Beauvillier also scored to help the Islanders take a 3-0 lead through two periods in a game between teams near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Nelson scored in the first and third periods in his third straight game with a goal.“It doesn’t always have to be goals, just chances,” Nelson said. “If you can feed off of that, you can suffocate teams.”The Islanders opened a three-game road trip. They play eight of their first 11 games on the road this season.The Flyers were loose with the puck, sagged on defense and stopped skating hard after pucks in the defensive zone. A playoff team last season, Philadelphia has lost three straight games and four of five overall.Coach Dave Hakstol remains on the hot seat in his fourth season, and the Flyers (4-7) await what could be a make-or-break four-game trip out West.Maybe a road trip will give a needed boost to a Flyers team that has already lost four home games.“We tightened up in this building,” Hakstol said.The Islanders weren’t terribly impressive either, but they were efficient, scoring two goals on their first six shots and three on the first 12.Michal Neuvirth wasn’t much help in net in his first start since last year. Neuvirth was out with an unspecified injury and the Flyers got little production from Brian Elliott and Calvin Pickard in his absence.The Flyers coughed up the puck and Komarov capitalized with a tip-in for a 1-0 lead in the first. The Flyers had another turnover later in the period and Jordan Eberle fed Beauvillier for a 2-0 lead.Nelson made it 3-0 on a sweet 2-on-1 attack that stunned Neuvirth and pretty much sealed the win.“Our bounces are not going our way Justin Braun Jersey Kids , but the season is long and we have to stick together,” Neuvirth said. “We’ve got a good team in here.”It’s hard to tell. The Flyers’ core of Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds and Jake Voracek has done little to prove the franchise can ever become serious contenders and — with more games like this one — general manager Ron Hextall will have to decide if he wants to shake up the roster or make a move behind the bench. Or both.“I really feel like we’re pressing right now. We’re just tired of losing so we’re trying to do everything we can to make something happen, but sometimes it’s not always the right thing,” Giroux said.Adam Pelech made it 4-1 and Nelson had his first multigoal game of the season, bringing out chants of “Fire Hakstol!”Jori Lehtera scored for the Flyers in their third straight game with one or fewer goals. Hakstol shuffled his lines all game and no combination worked.Lee made it 6-1 on a power-play goal that Neuvirth barely swiped at and the fans that stuck around could only boo.“We want to keep creating those opportunities,” Lee said. “The more chances we get, the more are going to go in. It kind of culminated tonight.”NOTES: Flyers C Corban Knight left with an unspecified injury.UP NEXTIslanders: Play Sunday at Carolina.Flyers: Open the road trip Tuesday at Anaheim. The Flyers also will play the Kings, Sharks and Coyotes.